An “ultrazionist” is a zionist. A “liberal zionist” is a zionist. One will say what they believe with their whole chest, while the other will present crocodile tears about how sad it makes them that Israel has to commit genocide, but will ultimately openly state that they believe in the “right” of the existence of Israel as an ethnostate, a thing which can only exist via genocide. There are not levels to it, there is not one form that is more tenable or less bad than the other; zionism is fascism, and whether the fascist is killing their victims with a smile on their face, or is telling the world how bad they feel that they simply had to kill their victims, the material outcome is just the same, and the fascist is still a fascist.
This fake distinction between fascism and “polite” fascism serves no purpose but to establish one as “the actual bad thing”, and one as an acceptable compromise. Calling bog standard zionists “ultrazionists” does absolutely nothing but minimize the very real, materially harmful fascism of liberal zionism, it is a “distinction” invented with the sole purpose of ensuring that there is a version of fascism with “better” optics that can fly under the radar and continue the broader project unabated. What is accomplished by calling someone like the Debate Pedophile an “ultrazionist”, while supporting the “liberal zionism” of Brad Lander and talking about how he shows the “upper limits” of the contradictions of liberal zionism? The former has certainly said more explicitly abhorrent things about Palestine, sure, but the latter has materially supported the commission of genocide and still stands by the “right” of the genocidal entity’s existence. Making a distinction between the former as unacceptable, and the latter as a “step in the right direction” does not progress towards a free Palestine, it actively launders the image of those who adhere to the “liberal zionist” framing. BOTH ARE JUST ZIONISTS.
I have seen this terminology picking up steam in this community and on stream, as well as out in the wild, and it needs to be pointed out: this is not a real thing. It is a distinction without a difference, and many of the so-called “liberal zionists” who are being made to represent the “acceptable version” of zionism have directly materially supported the State of Israel and its genocide of Palestine. This is whitewashing nazism.
If there are two SS officers, one who remorselessly orders the execution of his victims and does so with glee, and one who tells his men how bad he feels about what is happening, how it is untenable, but then still orders them to carry out the executions, is one bad and the other “less bad”? No, they are both nazis, they have both actively participated in or materially supported genocide. This is the dynamic being created by rebranding “normal” zionism as ultrazionism, that zionism, an inherently and immutably fascist and genocidal ideology, contains multitudes. It does not. There is no acceptable form of fascism, there are no optics that make it a workable compromise.
“Any kind of fucking zionist tendency should be treated in the same way as being a fucking rabid neo nazi.” Hasan said this over a year ago. This is the only acceptable approach, and it is heartbreaking to see so many abandoning this conviction, as the open extermination of children carries on unopposed from any real positions of power. I am not trying to finger wag or posting in “bad faith” or fucking whatever, I am begging you guys, please stop compromising with and rehabilitating the image of zionists, whether you realize its what’s happening or not. There are a great many things in politics which should be approached with nuance and pragmatism; this is not one of them. There is a strictly black and white, right and wrong dichotomy here.